Using a 1 AGP, 5 PCI, 1 AMR configuration, the K7S5A is a well equiped OEM motherboard. One problem is that the AMR slot is not very popular with the hardcore users since very few devices are built for the riser series of slots. Another gripe is the placement of the AMR; above the AGP slot. A more ideal place to put this slot would be right at the bottom of the board, or not to have one at all and install MC'97 devices straight onto the PCB.

- SiS 735 it all its glory

Here is the mighty beast that slew it's corporate competitors; the SiS 735. Never has there been so much talk and hype about a chipset, but this time it is totally founded. The SiS 735 can outperform any AMD 760, KT266 or ALi MagiK 1 motherboard on the market. And because of its separate DDR and SDR memory controllers, the SiS 735 has a better communication between the CPU and the system resources. Combine this with the MuTIO and we'll see that the SiS chipset is well ahead of the competition. The SiS chipset is also one of the coolest running DDR chipsets; only passive cooling is necessary.

- DDR and SDR

The ECS K7S5A is equipped with both DDR and SDR slots, designed for you out there with SDR modules but wanting the cool 735 chipset. the two blue sockets belong to the DDR controller and the two black sockets are for SDR, but only 512MB modules are supported in the DIMM slots, making this boards max memory 1.0GB (since you can't use SDR and DDR at the same time).

- Socket Layout

Being an OEM board, you wouldn't expect much in the way of large heatsink support, however, this is exactly the opposite. The ECS's layout around the socket is remarkably clear. Installing heatsinks like Alpha's PEP66T is not a problem; just slap it on and go.

- Overclocking

Unfortunately the ECS K7S5A isn't a super overclocker board. On the sample we received, there is no CPU Multiplier adjustments, no Vcore or Vdimm adjustments, and the FSB only goes from 100 to 133 and then to 150 and back again; that's is. While this is disappointing for overclockers, if you are just after a cheap DDR board, this is for you.

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